First time Discus owner

[knightskeyes]

Hi Guys

I live in Perth, Western Australia. I have been a fish hobbyist since my early teens. It was during this time that I first saw Discus in a publication I used to read called the Tropical Fish Hobbyist. I'm not sure how long these fish have been collected by hobbyists but when I inquired about buying some the cost was very prohibitive for a young teenage boy.

I bought my first two Discus last Saturday (29.01) from a reputable aquarium stockist and was wondering if you good people could rate my fish for me and also let me know what strain they are.

I would ultimately like to start breeding them (not necessarily these ones)93945.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Ian Knight
(Knightskeyes)

[Phillydubs]

Ian,

Welcome! Are these the only 2 fish in the tank? Please share more about your set up, size filtration, water change regiment, etc...

As far as the discus, they look marginal at best... the yellow pigeon blood looks better than the leopard or what I presume to be a leopard... The leopard looks a bit tatterd, the shape is off and the eyes are large... The pigeon blood also has larger eyes for its size but the shape seems a tad better as I am presuming these are young and need excellent care to grow out or squeeze any potential that is left out of them...

You claim the place you got them is reputable? May I ask why you feel that way and did they not provide you with any info on them? Age, breeder, strain etc?

If you really want to do it right and properly, you need to get rid of all that gravel and go bare bottom, you want a group of discus not just 2 5-6 at least and you really need to change a ton of water and feed good quality food...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it seems like you are off to an iffy start... I would read all you can here, the beginners stickies and through the beginners section...

Look at our sponsors pages and you will see what big healthy discus are supposed to look like... I also just posted to another member that in my youtube browsing this weekend came across a big supplier and store in australlia that had some amazing set ups and fish... check that out and maybe use them in the future to buy your fish? There you will also see how stunning discus can be...

Feel free to ask more questions and provide more info as I asked about and myself and I am sure many others will do the best we can to help you out!

Welcome... it is a long journey but a fun one when you do it right!

[Altum Nut]

Welcome to Simply Discus Ian
Discus in general do vary in price and can be overwhelming to purchase a group of 6 which is recommended simply due to them being schooling fish. The two you have seem to of average quality and appear 3.5-4 inches TL in size. When growing out Discus it is best to do so in a bare bottom tank which is easier to clean and prevent nasties from developing in your substrate. Before you can consider breeding Discus where these two are not a good match, I would read through the Beginners Section Sticky where you can absorb do's and don'ts experiences from others so your entry into Discus keeping can be steered in the right direction.
When in need of a question...post away.

...Ralph

[Akili]

To add what Ralph posted about the Beginners Section,do not know if you have watched this video by the owner of this site,if you have not then spend an hour of your time and watch it, Definitely well worth watching.


https://youtu.be/VXe3VKh7qF8

[knightskeyes]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I will read all I can to increase my knowledge. I have been doing a bit of surfing around here and the Facebook page and see a lot of variations in tanks from bare, to well planted. Is there a bit of conjecture around regarding bare bottom tanks?

[briztoon]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to Simply mate.

A couple of things.

First, watch or listen to the video linked above. I listen to it at least twice a week while I am doing water changes.

Second, people here on the forum are pretty straight up and honest. Some times pretty blunt and straight to the point with no sugar coating. But, they want the best for you, your fish and the discus hobby in general.

Third, seriously watch the video before you spend any more money, or do anything else. Pretty much all the basics are covered in the video. A lot of your questions will be answered in the video.

In regards to discus there are two types of LFS, LFS that specialise in discus and any other type of LFS. If you walk in to a LFS that specialises in discus, you will notice that all the discus tanks are bare bottom, and the only fish in the tanks are discus. There might be a couple of planted display tanks with discus in, but they will have fully mature adult discus in which are display discus and not for sale.

In Brisbane here, we have one LFS that is head and shoulders above all the others. It's previous owner was President of the QLD Cichlid Club, and the current owner and every staff member are members of the QLD Cichlid Club. Their fish are excellent quality. And they have the best quality discus you can find in Brisbane. But, the discus are sold from tanks which have other species of fish in, with substrate, driftwood and plants. The one time I asked where the discus were from, they couldn't really tell me.

Now down the Gold Coast there is a LFS that specialises in discus (and marines). I'll put a link to their web site and FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/LivingReefAquariums/

http://livingreefaquariums.com.au


I've only been keeping discus for about a year now. It's a lot of work if you want to raise good quality discus up to adults that look like what a discus is supposed to look like. But it's also very rewarding and you do feel a sense of accomplishment.

It is also expensive if you want to buy adults. But buying adults skips a year or so of growing out juveniles to adults, doing multiple feeds a day, and large daily water changes. It also saves on the fish food bill, the water bill and electricity bill.

[stretch5]

hey Ian, where in perth are you? Im south hammond park. There are quiet a few different places to get discus fish. I know a supply thats getting a heap of discus in next week.
I plan to get a few more myself. Also have a look on gumtree and get your self an olive 200L barrel to age water and help with water changes ;) I got one for $25 i think

[Candi]

I have had a discus setup about 2 months now. Like you I got excited because my fish were beautiful and I was on the road to having big beautiful healthy discus. Then like you I was told they weren't so cute. In bad condition and a few of them were stunted. It was a downer and I wanted to sell them and start over. But their personalities were amazing... And I loved them. So I read up... I have been doing 80% water changes daily and feeing 5 times a day. They are growing like crazy and I like to think they are doing better. I am about to get a smaller batch and hopefully get better ones this time.

I wanted to give you words of encouragement... It's hard to hear that they aren't as perfect as you think they are. But you love them the same... And do a little extra to help them get healthy. Good luck!